The demand for storage has been rapidly increasing. As the amount of data such as digital media stored by users grows, so does the need to store digital media reliably over extended periods of time. Traditional backup solutions periodically copy data to, for example, backup tapes, compact discs (CDs), or other local storage media. However, such solutions are not optimal because the backup media is stored in a single location and media used for backups are prone to failure.
Commercially available services referred to as cloud storage services provide mass storage through web service interfaces available through the Internet. The storage infrastructure includes a distributed array of geographically distributed data centers connected to a plurality of clients through a wide area network (WAN). A data center typically consists of servers and mass storage facilitating cloud storage services to the clients. Such services enable applications including, for example, backup and restore of data, data synchronization, file sharing, and so on.
Cloud storage services are accessible from anywhere in the world through a client implementing a web services interface designed to at least synchronize data with the data centers. However, such web services fail to provide standard file sharing protocols (e.g., common internet file system (CIFS) or network file system (NFS)). In addition, accessing files stored in the cloud storage from the LAN is typically many times slower than accessing files stored in storage devices on the same LAN.
A network attached storage (NAS) device for performing NAS operations with cloud storage services is also discussed in the related art. Such a NAS device provides the functionality of data storage, file-based operations (e.g., read, write, delete, modify, etc.), and the management of these functionalities to clients on the network. Specifically, a client can store data in its local storage which is also synchronized with a cloud storage service. The client can access and perform file-based operations either on its local storage or the cloud storage service. An access to the files in the device is only through a local area network, while access to the cloud storage is through a web portal. An example for a NAS device that provides cloud storage services can be found in a Co-Pending patent application Ser. No. 12/641,559 entitled “STORAGE DEVICE AND METHOD THEREOF FOR INTEGRATING NETWORK ATTACHED STORAGE WITH CLOUD STORAGE SERVICES,” assigned to common assignee, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.
Network devices are commonly accessed using a Web-based interface enabling control of the devices. However, a number of practical factors restrict the possibility of accessing network devices over the web. A local area network (LAN), in which the devices operate, is often protected by a firewall or a network address translation (NAT) device, which prevents remote users from connecting to the device. Even if firewalls are reconfigured to allow access, the LAN network may be set with Network Address Translation (NAT) to a dynamic public IP address, which makes locating the device difficult. Furthermore, even if access is allowed by firewalls or made possible by a VPN (Virtual Private Network), the Internet connection of the LAN network, using last mile access technologies such as Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), is often slow (especially in the upstream direction), congested, and has high latency, resulting in poor responsiveness when accessed remotely.
It would be therefore advantageous to provide a solution for allowing secure remote access to network devices over the World Wide Web. It would be further advantageous if the proposed solution would accelerate such remote access for optimized application responsiveness.